The Blind Leading The Oblivious
by DELETED113213213
Summary: A series of cute ficlets showing Aang's and Toph's slow but gradual comprehension of their feelings for one another.
1. Personal Space

**Hi! Arienelle here with my first posted fanfiction. Of course I obviously don't own the Avatar series and will not be making any moolah off of this. Review, I'm looking to improve my writing.**

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><p>Toph was acting <em>really<em> weird. And he didn't mean weird like the swamp benders.

Earlier today she had suddenly told him that they couldn't hang out anymore.

Aang, who was confused because they had spent literally every day together so far this summer, had flatly asked why.

The Earthbender's cheeks had then flushed with sudden color causing the freshly teenaged Avatar to become alarmed.

"Toph," he shouted causing her to jump, "what's wrong with your skin. Do you have a fever?"

It was then that Toph had made a choking noise and turned even redder. Aang's neglected hero complex instantly flared to life and he took affirmative action.

Grabbing the petite girl by one of her arms, Aang yanked Toph closer, buried his hand under her overgrown bangs, and felt her forehead. So caught up was he in his inspection, he didn't even notice Toph stiffen at their close proximity.

Aang poked his tongue out in concentration for a moment before frowning in puzzlement. "Well Toph, you don't have an unnatural temperature or anything. If anything you're slightly cooler." The Avatar then leaned down to Toph's five-foot-four statue and looked her intently in the face.

"Hmm…your face and neck are nearly crimson though." He took a step closer, not noticing how Toph barely bit back a whimper as his breath lightly ghosted across her cheeks. Curiously Aang reached forward and pressed his finger to one of Toph's still cherubic-like cheeks to watch her skin flush under the slight pressure.

The sudden contact jolted Toph out of her dazed state and she instantly smacked Aang's probing hand away.

"**WHAT**," the Airbender cringed at the hysterical shrill tone Toph only took up on rare occasions, "**THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU? DO YOU HAVE ANY REGARD FOR PERSONAL SPACE?**" She huffed and started to stalk off but paused.

"Oh and I'm not hanging with you anymore because...I have to help Iroh with harvesting his tea leaves! Duh idiot!" And this time she really did storm away, and all Aang could do was watch in bewilderment as she left small footprint-shaped craters in her wake.

His clear grey eyes blinked once before rubbing the blue skin on his head.

"What did I do?"

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><p><strong>Ch. 2 coming soon!<strong>


	2. Dear Tummy, Sorry For The Butterflies

**NOTE: March 23, 2012; Sorry but I HAD to rewrite this chapter. I wasn't entirely pleased with the first version.**

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><p>Toph kicked rocks across the courtyard sullenly.<p>

It was midday and now a couple of hours since she had _fled_ from Aang. She gritted her teeth at the thought.

Toph Bei Fong was _anything_ but a coward.

But she _was_ becoming a klutz— fast.

At first it had been faltering steps. Just certain moments where she would feel off-kilter before she reaffirmed her footing. They were little things that she had only briefly regarded before overlooking in the excitement of summer and all the festivals and ceremonies that came with it.

It had been a huge oversight on her part.

She hadn't even noticed the coincidence of when and who those moments occurred around until the _**disaster**_ last evening. Toph rubbed her face at the thought.

She and Aang had spent the entire day extreme rock-sledding in the agrarian zone and once the sun began to lower in the sky (an indicator of their impending curfew coming up soon), they decided to head back to Iroh's apartment where they had been living during their diplomatic summer visit in Ba Sing Se. Toph had refused to be stuck in the Earth Kingdom Royal Place all summer with stiff nobles.

After being let back inside the city gates, they had begun their trek back up through the Lower Ring of the metropolitan to reach the ring's only monorail station. Since the pair had given their stubbornly assigned Royal Earthbender Guards the slip earlier that morning, they were able to stay incognito and move quickly through the crowd of evening bustle while avoiding notice by Toph keeping her head down and Aang donning a simple headband under a hat.

They had been mere feet away from the monorail stop when they were finally spotted.

_**Last Evening...  
><strong>_

_"Look! Avatar Aang and Masterbender Toph!" The outcry made Aang groan quietly while Toph muttered a few choice words under her breath. Even nearly three years after the end of the War, the appearance of a member of Team Avatar in public was cause for a near spontaneous gala._

_The ground vibrated under them as dozens of feet hurried to the cringing pair. Before they could blink twice, they were surrounded by too many people all talking at once._

"Oh Avatar Aang, we just love your blue—"  
>"Lady Toph may you train my two sons—"<br>"We really need to find our lost cat—"  
>"Do you want to go on a date with all three of us, Avatar—"<br>"Masterbender Toph you are totally wicked cool!"  
>"Hey, maybe we can rip his shirt off and—"<p>

_The last statement caught Toph's attention making her frown. But before she had to hit somebody with a rock, Aang raised his hands making everyone quiet down._

_"Excuse us everyone, but Lady Toph and I must get home by our curfew." A few giggling girls aww'ed at the conscientious statement making Toph fold her arms. Some girls were such airheads._

_The next monorail took that opportune moment to slide into the transit station. Before the crowd could do anything else, Toph reached for Aang's arm and began dragging him to the doors of the monorail. Aang shouted a goodbye of his shoulder while Toph settled for throwing two fingers over her shoulder in some sort of farewell salute. They quickly boarded the train and headed to the back of the train and plopped down on the bottom row. Several moments crawled by as the train filled over it's usual capacity as members of the crowd from outside spilled through the doors. Two disgruntled train attendants and the turned away remnants of a mob later, the train departed the station._

_Toph didn't know if it was her but the monorail felt like it was moving slower today. She reasoned it probably was on account of all of the people crammed on it at the moment. She turned to Aang. "Exactly how many people are on here?"_

_"Too many," he muttered under his breath, "and they're all staring at us. I'm starting to get a little creeped out."  
><em>

_Toph guffawed. "Thank god I don't have to look at them." The grey-eyed boy rolled his eyes before bumping her shoulder and when she kept laughing, flicked her on the forehead._

_"Heyyyy." She protested and this time Aang laughed. _

_"Like it's going to do any damage. Your forehead is as hard as a rock." The irony wasn't lost on the Earthbender as she elbowed him in the side. They lapsed into a comfortable silence as tendrils of conversation floated around them.  
><em>

"Can you believe the luck I've had this year—"  
>"Don't chicken out girls! We are getting his shirt off of his body one way or —"<br>"Do you think my belt matches my—"  
>"Oh Kyoshi, Masterbender Toph is so hot! She's freaking beautiful."<p>

_Toph snorted at the last statement before shaking her head. Unfortunately she had forgotten Aang's close proximity to her and his habit of picking up on everything in his surroundings. _

_He was certain that she was reacting to the same statement he had just heard and he frowned at the thought of her believing differently. He eyed her out of the corner of his eye to see her head ducked down with her long bangs falling down to obscure her face. At the sight his mind was instantly made up. He would just have to tell her and make her believe the obvious then._

_"Toph." He nudged her shoulder to gain her attention. She glanced over at him making a noise in her throat to indicate she had heard him._

_"I heard what those guys just said and I agree. You ARE beautiful."_

_He watched in fascination as a pretty coral color blossomed across her cheeks…right before all heck broke loose._

_Toph grabbed her stomach as if in a distressed panic and the next thing Aang knew, the monorail was slamming to a halt and everyone on board was getting thrown to the ground._

_**XXX**_

Toph groaned as the events of last night kept playing in her head. After Aang had said those diabolical words to her, she felt like her stomach had fell through or something and had thought she was about to fall off her seat. So she did the first instinctive reaction and tried to settle the ground around her. Unfortunately in her panic, she had did it too strongly and made the track they had been on sink about twelve feet into the earth.

The monorail had then quite literally run into a wall of stone. Thankfully no one had been injured in the…incident and no one had even thought to accuse her of being involved. Instead it was city news by now that a huge pocket of air underneath the foundation of the track had finally ruptured causing the phenomenon. Lady Toph of Team Avatar had just conveniently been on board of the unlucky monorail and was able to right the track in hardly any time.

Toph shook her head at it all. Just like those boys on the train and Aang, people believed the silliest things._  
><em>


	3. Marketplace Truths

**My lack of updating is unacceptable. I apologize and will aim to do much much better. Last night/this morning, I decided to stop procrastinating and write Chapter 3. Hope you enjoy.**

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><p>The sun hung brightly in the sky beaming down on the afternoon bustle of the Middle Ring's marketplace. Aang meandered around with no real purpose except trying to waste time until Toph finished helping Iroh harvest his tea leaves.<p>

The crowd moved around his slow gait, most not even glancing at the lanky hooded figure loping around. People from all over the land came to the city's famed weekly market to shop, so it was easy for Aang to go undetected here. The weird was accepted much quicker on these lively days.

Dodging a wagon full of snorting wooly-pigs, the Avatar decided to take a seat in the shade of one of the many canopies and people watch. There was nothing better to do at the moment. Well nothing he wanted to do without Toph. And hopefully the activity could distract him while the time crawled by.

Aang stopped before a bright turquoise covering before bending up a short mound of earth. Plopping down haphazardly, he winced and quickly softened the dirt directly under his behind. You would think by now he would remember…

He shook his head before trying to lose himself and his thoughts in the multitudes of people passing through the street. Two minutes went by before Toph crossed his mind again. Admittedly a new important thought had occurred to him.

"Will she be able to find me here when she's done helping Iroh?"

"Who's helping me with what?"

Aang started and awkwardly slid off his little mound. He looked up with alarm into Iroh's smiling but bemused face.

"Are you alright Aang?" The boy in question pushed himself up to his feet before brushing his clothes off.

"Yea... Hey, isn't Toph supposed to be with you?"

"Not that I know of." The older man scratched his chin in a contemplating manner. "I actually haven't seen her for a few days…or you for that matter and you both live with me!" He eyed Aang with a speculative twinkling eye. "I've finally pinned down one of my elusive tenants who has been slipping out early in the morning and coming back late at night."

Aang frowned guiltily at the thought of his behavior. "Sorry Iroh, we've just—."

"Oh, no worries or excuses needed! I was young and active once, I understand. But please, placate an old man and come home this evening for dinner. I found a new spicy vegetable stew recipe I'm trying tonight. You and Toph can be my first testers." Iroh lifted his hand to enticingly wave a bundle of various plants in Aang's face.

"Uhh," Aang's mind was still trying to process the fact that Toph wasn't with Iroh and Iroh wasn't expecting her to be. "Sure?"

"Great! It's a dinner party! I must definitely be going then. I have a few more items to pick up." Clapping the Avatar heartily on the shoulder, he turned away from the still surprised teen and disappeared into the market's masses.

Aang stood there a moment longer. "She lied to me." He shook his head disbelievingly. "She seriously lied to me."

Why _would_ she?

His grey eyes unerringly slid to a chortling pair passing in front of him. It was a pink-haired girl and blonde-haired boy approximately his age smiling and jostling each other. For some reason the sight made him scowl.

"She better have a darn good reason."


	4. Harsh Words Equals Hurt Feelings

**Yes. I suck. In my defense though, I started college this year plus I'm an athlete so the adjustment has been super hard. Our season is starting though, so things are actually going to get easier. I know it sounds weird but trust me it is. So that means, I will do much better on updates!**

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><p>Dinner that evening was turning out to be an awkward affair.<p>

Out of the three seated at the dining table, one was still sulking from events earlier in the day, another was apprehensively eying the sulker, and the last was blissfully oblivious to his volatile surroundings.

Aang peered up from his dinner, looking across the dark mahogany table to the girl who sat churlishly over the meal Iroh had prepared. He was still bothered about her lying to him and was no closer to an answer for her unexplained behavior after a wasted day trying to track her down. This was the closest he had gotten to her all day and he was actually surprised that she had showed up for dinner. He could only guess that Iroh had somehow miraculously found her and informed her of his dinner plans.

The Avatar mechanically stirred the contents of his bowl, the clink of his chopsticks against the china the only sounds in the otherwise quiet dining room of the Jasmine Dragon.

He couldn't help but wish Sokka, Katara, Zuko, or Suki were in town. At least then someone could be a buffer in this situation.

But unfortunately with the nations still rebuilding from the Hundred Year War, the group or as Sokka had affectionally termed it—Team Avatar—had been constantly split up for the past year. A new wave of revolts had started this spring in the Fire Nation causing Zuko to become embroiled with actively seeking out the rebels. With the Southern Water Tribe thriving better than ever from the relief efforts sent by its Northern sister, Katara had the freedom to join Zuko in the Fire Capital and aid him with the probes and be sort of a personal bodyguard for the strained Firebender. Sokka and Suki, at the request of Chief Arnook, were currently with the Northern Water Tribe aiding in the training of its troops.

With no current necessary place for himself or Toph to be, they were free to travel the lands being ambassadors for peace amongst the nations which is what everyone—minus Zuko— had actually been doing since the War's end three years ago.

Toph and he had been in Ba Sing Se since the beginning of the summer. They really hadn't had to do anything since the Earth Kingdom capital was doing so well, so the diplomatic visit was turning out to be more of an unofficial vacation. Earth King Kuei had insisted that they simply enjoy the city which Aang and Toph had so far agreed to wholeheartedly. They had raced around the walls of Ba Sing Se, wrangled the hog monkeys at the zoo, and dozens other activities. Every day so far had been a blast and the companionship of Toph had made everything even more enjoyable.

That's why he just didn't understand where all of this was coming from today. He glanced back up at the teenage Earthbender apprehensively. He was going to find out though.

Slowly and purposely, he put down the chopsticks he had been holding and leaned forward.

"So, Toph." She didn't acknowledge him but he continued on. "Why on all the nations did you lie about helping Iroh in his garden?"

There was a pregnant pause then Toph's face darkened before she gritted out, "Why are you checking up on me?"

"I'm not. I just happened to run into Iroh at the market and he had no idea you were supposed to help him today. You lied to me!"

Why was she being this way? She was even acting like he had done something wrong by finding out the truth. Dimly he noticed Toph was talking.

"—and if you weren't going around making me…" She abruptly broke off as Aang leaned forward.

"If I weren't what, Toph?"

The girl's face flushed reminding him of what had happened earlier this morning when she first told him she couldn't hang out today.

"Are you sick or something? Is that why you're acting so…strange?"

Toph groaned before slapping a hand over her face. "No…"

"Then what's the matter?"

"Nothing!

"Toph, I need to know what I did to—"

"What part of me saying 'I'm not hanging with you anymore' did you not understand?"

Aang opened his mouth to reply but paused as the quiet sound of a page being turned came from Iroh. He glanced at the serene man to see him holding a leather-bound book up to his face while blindly spooning soup into his mouth.

The young Avatar's cheeks flushed. He had totally forgotten Iroh was in the room. Knowing Toph and her temper, the situation had the potential to get out of control and become embarrassing for him. An aggravated snort drew his attention back across the table to see Toph leaning back in her chair and folding her arms.

Her sudden aversion was inexplicable.

She couldn't be his friend one day and hate his guts the next. That had to be some violation of the friendship code. She didn't even consider how he would feel about this. But…then again Toph was never much for considering others. He eyed the haughty expression on her face and was hit with a sudden surge of irritation.

He had always put up with her brash personality and behavior but for once he was too frustrated to adjust.

"What's your problem? You've been acting mean to me all day for no reason. Just yesterday we were rock-sledding in the agrarian zone and now you want to bite my head off whenever I try to talk to you!"

The sound of another page being turned at a leisurely pace came from the head of the table.

"What's my problem?!" Toph kicked back her chair and stood abruptly, planting her palms on the surface of the table. "I don't have to explain myself to you! Are you my father? No! He's back in Gaoling. You just need to shove off."

"You can't just all of a sudden decide to push me away without a reason. It's not fair!"

What Toph wanted to shout was that what wasn't fair was how she couldn't be around him anymore without turning into a ditzy klutz. But she didn't so she stayed silent. Aang took that as an indication to continue.

"I thought we were best friends." The words hung in the air along with his confusion and hurt feelings.

She felt wobbly.

She felt idiotic. So she did what she did best and went on the verbal offense.

"You've mistaken my tolerance of you for friendship. I only put up with you because we've been assigned here by Zuko. If it wasn't for that, I'll be off by myself! You're more of a bother than anything."

Something piqued in her chest as she uttered the untrue words but they were already spoken. Silence reigned for a lengthy moment before she heard Aang clear his throat.

"Well you get your wish." His voice cracked a bit reminding her of how his voice had been deepening this summer. "You don't have to worry about me bothering you anymore."The only indication of his departure that Toph got was a whisper of wind. Her stomach suddenly hurt.

Toph heard Iroh slap his book down on the table and could feel the disapproval nearly radiating off of him.

"Toph…"

"Ughhh!"


	5. Did You Say Jubilee?

**After a traumatizing first year of college with a cram-packed schedule of advanced classes and a dollop of horrible laziness, I present to you an update! I really apologize to my readers. I hope I can write and schmooze my way back into your good graces!**

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><p>The noises and vibrations of the city washed over Toph in tandem as she sat outside of the Jasmine Dragon. Despite the early hour, waves of citizens of Ba Sing Se passed by the famed tea shop, some breaking off to enter the establishment while most continued on their way. A sense of excitement was in the air and it was appropriate given the circumstances. It was the day before the start of the weeklong 3rd Annual United Nations Jubilee. The celebration marked three years since the day of Zuko's coronation and the start of rebuilding and peace.<p>

Toph flicked a miniscule pebble off the bench she sat on, listening with trivial satisfaction as the rock plopped into the sloshing fountain across the courtyard from her. She was adjusting the rice hat she wore when a gaggle of kids came into the vicinity chanting something at the top of their lungs. It took her a second to decipher the words, but when she did her smile dropped. They were repeating 'Avatar Aang'.

She reflexively tensed thinking the teenager in question had entered the clearing. But after a quick and thorough scan, her shoulders lowered while she inwardly chided herself over her reaction, although admittedly, she hadn't talked to Aang in six days.

She had seen glimpses of him on occasion, but whenever they had gotten near each other this past week, he had quickly disappeared. His stark absenteeism made her see the possible error of her ways. Not so much the objective, but the way she went about it.

Still some good had come from all this and that was that Aang was obviously avoiding her.

And that worked brilliantly for Toph because even if she caved and decided to search Aang out, she would be looking for the only person in the world who could effectively evade her if he so wished.

Her brow furrowed as she considered for the umpteenth time the degree to which Aang had to have been hurt for him to be acting like this.

Sure the wording had been a bit harsh. But guess what? Aang had been mentally distracting her _all_ summer and that wasn't nice either. In her qualified opinion, he was like a virus. In May he was only pinging against the surface of her conscious, and now, in the middle of August, he intruded on almost every thought! And she didn't know how!

She had considered the notion that Aang had, some kind of way, invented mind-bending and was using her as a test dummy, but it didn't pan out when she really thought about it. There was no way Twinkletoes would keep something like that to himself.

Next, she had figured she was becoming too soft. This had explained the random wonderings of what Aang could be doing when he wasn't around her. Especially the audacious one that had her trying to figure out if she should win him a toy from a street vendor she had passed several weeks ago. But this theory had been destroyed only a week afterwards. On the way to the Jasmine Dragon for a late breakfast, she had been stopped by yet another street vendor who asked if she had wanted to buy a silver-backed baby meerkat that had recently lost its mother, and was the lone survivor of its weak brood, and yadayadaya.

Toph had stood at the pin for a moment, feeling the heartbeat of the tiny furball before it verbalized its presence with a piteous but admittedly adorable chirp, and that's when she knew her theory was a dud. Because she felt absolutely no benevolence or even want for the infant mongoose. An Aang-thought hadn't even popped up.

And so it was late that night, really very early the next day, which she finally arrived at her final and most concrete understanding of this strange Aang phenomenon.

She had developed an allergy to Aang.

It explained her prickling skin when he was around, her queasy stomach when he came too close, and her flushed cheeks when he touched her. Her Aang-centric thoughts had to come from a combination of delusion plus her own body trying to tell her what was going on.

Toph really had no option but to cut off all contact with Aang until she at least saw Katara and asked if the problem could be healed away somehow. And speaking of the Waterbender, her and Zuko were really late. They were supposed to have arrived two days ago but had yet to show up. They were probably off being googly-eyed towards each other. She didn't doubt that they would turn up though, even if it was right before the opening events tomorrow at midday.

Sokka and Suki were supposed to arrive around noon by ship so they would be here in a few hours, give or take. Toph was honestly thrilled to be reunited with her close friends and couldn't wait till Team Avatar was whole again even if it was only for a week. It would be the first time in the _longest_ that everyone was together.

Suddenly a daunting thought popped up. Aang and she weren't on speaking terms and this could and most likely would throw a hog monkey into everything. Mental scenarios started forming making Toph quickly stand.

She needed to take a ramble to clear her mind.

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><p>Aang deftly tied the last end of a colorful banner onto the awning of a welding shop. Checking first to make sure it was secure, he dropped onto the cracked cobblestone beneath him and studied it from ground level.<p>

It wasn't exactly perfectly straight but unless someone with a complex on precision came by, it would go easily unnoticed. Aang raised his arms above his head before stretching vigorously to get the slight ache out of his back. Once he began swaying from the blood rush to his head, he straightened then started popping the joints in his hands. He had been helping the people of the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se decorate their district for the jubilee all morning.

Initially there had been a ton of gawking, grabbing, and cheering. But after about thirty minutes of Aang doing nothing "spectacular", save for him using his air scooter to hang banners up, the citizens had went back to their celebratory decorative activities. The Avatar's stomach took that moment to bellow its chagrin over its lack of supplied food. Aang rubbed it thoughtfully as he eyed the crowded street before him as he thought of where he was going to eat lunch. Going back to the Jasmine Dragon was out of the equation because he didn't want to see…..

He groaned.

He hadn't thought of Toph for the entire time he had been helping today and now he had inadvertently brought her back up.

"Appa's dropping," he muttered as he began slipping through the crowd, aiming to head to the marketplace of the Lower Ring.

Suddenly a hand came down on his shoulder making him tense up. '_I thought we had gotten all of the pleasantries out the way.'_

He slowly turned only to look down into gleaming light brown eyes. The owner smiled back up at him before pumping her fists. "I knew it was you!" Aang blinked. The girl frowned. "You don't remember me?"

"Uh…" He reached back to scratch his head, mentally noting that he needed to shave, while staring intently at the girl to dredge up memories. Long dark brown slightly bushy hair, an open expression in light brown eyes…

She smiled expectantly, subtly preening under the attention, lips parting to reveal a smile with a tiny gap…

"Meng!" The girl squealed and jumped up and down before grabbing his arms. "You remembered!"

He chuckled as he staggered from her energetic seizing, "Yea, you were memorable."

She stopped everything, even breathing it seemed, and peered up at him. "Really?"

Aang blinked again at the abrupt change in attitude. "Uh, s-sure, you were Aunt Wu's assistant and—" He was cut off as she grabbed his arm again and began pulling him down the street where more than a few citizens were now speculatively watching the pair.

"We have to catch up!" Meng exclaimed. "Do you like fried dumplings?"

Aang's stomach answered before he could. "Of course!"


End file.
